1 Kings 12:1-33

The Revolt of the Ten Tribes. Rehoboam and Jeroboam

The revolt of the Ten Tribes against the rule of Rehoboam had its origin partly in the discontent which the burdens laid on the people by Solomon had created and which Jeroboam (who knew of it, see 1 Kings 11:28) had perhaps stimulated, and partly in the jealousy subsisting between the northern tribes and Judah, which had manifested itself previously in the separate kingdoms of Ish-bosheth and David, and the insurrections that disturbed David's reign over the whole people (2 Samuel 20:1); whilst the bond of union constituted by a common religious faith must have been weakened by Solomon's idolatry.